Project description:The unfolded protein response (UPR) is a conserved intracellular signaling pathway that controls transcription of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis related genes. Ethanol stress has been recently described as an activator of the UPR response in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, but very little is known about the causes of this activation. Although some authors ensure that the UPR is triggered by the unfolded proteins generated by ethanol in the cell, there are studies which demonstrate that protein denaturation occurs at higher ethanol concentrations than those used to trigger the UPR. Here, we studied UPR after ethanol stress by three different approaches and we concluded that unfolded proteins do not accumulate in the ER under. We also ruled out inositol depletion as an alternative mechanism to activate the UPR under ethanol stress discarding that ethanol effects on the cell decreased inositol levels by different methods. All these data suggest that ethanol, at relatively low concentrations, does not cause unfolded proteins in the yeasts and UPR activation is likely due to other unknown mechanism related with a restructuring of ER membrane due to the effect of ethanol.
Project description:Micrococcal nuclease (MNase) is commonly used to map nucleosomes genome-wide, but nucleosome maps are affected by the degree of digestion. It has been proposed that many yeast promoters are not nucleosome-free but instead occupied by easily digested, unstable, "fragile" nucleosomes. We analyzed the histone content of all MNase-sensitive complexes by MNase-ChIP-seq and sonication-ChIP-seq. We find that yeast promoters are predominantly bound by non-histone protein complexes, with little evidence for fragile nucleosomes. We do detect MNase-sensitive nucleosomes elsewhere in the genome, including at transcription termination sites. However, they have high A/T content, suggesting that MNase sensitivity does not indicate instability, but rather the preference of MNase for A/T-rich DNA, such that A/T-rich nucleosomes are digested faster than G/C-rich nucleosomes. We confirm our observations by analyzing ChIP-exo, chemical mapping, and ATAC-seq data from other laboratories. Thus, histone ChIP-seq experiments are essential to distinguish nucleosomes from other DNA-binding proteins that protect against MNase.
Project description:BackgroundThe vast majority of methods available to characterize genome-wide chromatin structure exploit differences in DNA accessibility to nucleases or chemical crosslinking. We developed a novel method to gauge genome-wide accessibility of histone protein surfaces within nucleosomes by assessing reactivity of engineered cysteine residues with a thiol-specific reagent, biotin-maleimide (BM).ResultsYeast nuclei were obtained from cells expressing the histone mutant H2B S116C, in which a cysteine resides near the center of the external flat protein surface of the nucleosome. BM modification revealed that nucleosomes are generally equivalently accessible throughout the S. cerevisiae genome, including heterochromatic regions, suggesting limited, higher-order chromatin structures in which this surface is obstructed by tight nucleosome packing. However, we find that nucleosomes within 500 bp of transcription start sites exhibit the greatest range of accessibility, which correlates with the density of chromatin remodelers. Interestingly, accessibility is not well correlated with RNA polymerase density and thus the level of gene expression. We also investigated the accessibility of cysteine mutations designed to detect exposure of histone surfaces internal to the nucleosome thought to be accessible in actively transcribed genes: H3 102, is at the H2A-H2B dimer/H3-H4 tetramer interface, and H3 A110C, resides at the H3-H3 interface. However, in contrast to the external surface site, we find that neither of these internal sites were found to be appreciably exposed.ConclusionsOverall, our finding that nucleosomes surfaces within S. cerevisiae chromatin are equivalently accessible genome-wide is consistent with a globally uncompacted chromatin structure lacking substantial higher-order organization. However, we find modest differences in accessibility that correlate with chromatin remodelers but not transcription, suggesting chromatin poised for transcription is more accessible than actively transcribed or intergenic regions. In contrast, we find that two internal sites remain inaccessible, suggesting that such non-canonical nucleosome species generated during transcription are rapidly and efficiently converted to canonical nucleosome structure and thus not widely present in native chromatin.
Project description:Humans and yeast are separated by a billion years of evolution, yet their conserved histones retain central roles in gene regulation. Here, we "reset" yeast to use core human nucleosomes in lieu of their own (a rare event taking 20 days), which initially only worked with variant H3.1. The cells adapt by acquiring suppressor mutations in cell-division genes or by acquiring certain aneuploid states. Converting five histone residues to their yeast counterparts restored robust growth. We reveal that humanized nucleosomes are positioned according to endogenous yeast DNA sequence and chromatin-remodeling network, as judged by a yeast-like nucleosome repeat length. However, human nucleosomes have higher DNA occupancy, globally reduce RNA content, and slow adaptation to new conditions by delaying chromatin remodeling. These humanized yeasts (including H3.3) pose fundamental new questions about how chromatin is linked to many cell processes and provide a platform to study histone variants via yeast epigenome reprogramming.
Project description:Micrococcal nuclease (MNase) is commonly used to map nucleosomes genome-wide, but nucleosome maps are affected by the degree of digestion. It has been proposed that many yeast promoters are not nucleosome-free but occupied by easily digested, unstable, “fragile” nucleosomes. We analyzed the histone content of all MNase-sensitive complexes by MNase-ChIP-seq and Sonication-ChIP-seq. We find that yeast promoters are predominantly bound by non-histone protein complexes, with little evidence for fragile nucleosomes. We do detect MNase-sensitive nucleosomes elsewhere in the genome, including transcription termination sites. However, they have high A/T-content, suggesting that MNase sensitivity does not indicate instability, but the preference of MNase for A/T-rich DNA, such that A/T-rich nucleosomes are digested faster than G/C-rich nucleosomes. We confirm our observations by analyzing ChIP-exo, chemical mapping and ATAC-seq data from other laboratories. Thus, histone ChIP-seq experiments are essential to distinguish nucleosomes from other DNA-binding proteins that protect against MNase.
Project description:Non-canonical DNA i-motifs and G-quadruplexes are postulated as genetic switches for the transcriptional regulation of proto-oncogenes. However, in comparison to G-quadruplexes, the therapeutic potential of i-motifs is less explored. The development of i-motif selective ligands by conventional approaches is challenging due to the structural complexity of i-motifs. The target guided synthetic (TGS) approach involving in situ cycloaddition could provide specific ligands for these dynamic DNA structures. Herein, we have used i-motif forming C-rich DNA and their complementary G-quadruplex forming DNA sequences of c-MYC and BCL2 promoter regions as well as a control self-complementary duplex DNA sequence as the templates to generate selective ligands from a pool of reactive azide-alkyne building blocks. In our approach, thiolated DNA targets are immobilized on the surface of gold-coated iron nanoparticles to enable efficient isolation of the newly generated ligands from the solution mixture by simple magnetic decantation. The combinatorial in situ cycloaddition generated cell-membrane permeable triazole leads for respective DNA targets (c-MYC and BCL2 i-motifs and G-quadruplexes) that selectively promote their formation. In vitro cellular studies reveal that the c-MYC i-motif and G-quadruplex leads downregulate c-MYC gene expression whereas the BCL2 i-motif lead upregulates and the BCL2 G-quadruplex lead represses BCL2 gene expression. The TGS strategy using i-motif DNA nanotemplates represents a promising platform for the direct in situ formation of i-motif specific ligands for therapeutic intervention.
Project description:Utilization of non-AUG alternative translation start sites is most common in bacteria and viruses, but it has been also reported in other organisms. This phenomenon increases proteome complexity by allowing expression of multiple protein isoforms from a single gene. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a few described cases concern proteins that are translated from upstream near-cognate start codons as N-terminally extended variants that localize to mitochondria. Using bioinformatics tools, we provide compelling evidence that in yeast the potential for producing alternative protein isoforms by non-AUG translation initiation is much more prevalent than previously anticipated and may apply to as many as a few thousand proteins. Several hundreds of candidates are predicted to gain a mitochondrial targeting signal (MTS), generating an unrecognized pool of mitochondrial proteins. We confirmed mitochondrial localization of a subset of proteins previously not identified as mitochondrial, whose standard forms do not carry an MTS. Our data highlight the potential of non-canonical translation initiation in expanding the capacity of the mitochondrial proteome and possibly also other cellular features.
Project description:Nucleosomes in active chromatin are dynamic, but whether they have distinct structural conformations is unknown. To identify nucleosomes with alternative structures genome-wide, we used H4S47C-anchored cleavage mapping, which revealed that 5% of budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) nucleosome positions have asymmetric histone-DNA interactions. These asymmetric interactions are enriched at nucleosome positions that flank promoters. Micrococcal nuclease (MNase) sequence-based profiles of asymmetric nucleosome positions revealed a corresponding asymmetry in MNase protection near the dyad axis, suggesting that the loss of DNA contacts around H4S47 is accompanied by protection of the DNA from MNase. Chromatin immunoprecipitation mapping of selected nucleosome remodelers indicated that asymmetric nucleosomes are bound by the RSC chromatin remodeling complex, which is required for maintaining nucleosomes at asymmetric positions. These results imply that the asymmetric nucleosome-RSC complex is a metastable intermediate representing partial unwrapping and protection of nucleosomal DNA on one side of the dyad axis during chromatin remodeling.
Project description:Tumor-initiating cells (TICs) are a sub-population of cells that exhibit a robust ability to self-renew and contribute to the formation of primary tumors, the relapse of previously treated tumors and the development of metastases. TICs have been identified in various tumors including those of the breast, and are particularly enriched in the basal-like and claudin-low subtypes of breast cancer. The signaling pathways that contribute to the function and maintenance of TICs are under intense study. We explored the potential involvement of the nuclear factor-?B (NF-?B) family of transcription factors in TICs in cell lines that are representative of basal-like and claudin-low breast cancer. NF-?B was found to be activated in breast cancer cells that form tumorspheres efficiently. Moreover, both canonical and non-canonical NF-?B signaling is required for these cells to self-renew in vitro and to form xenograft tumors efficiently in vivo using limiting dilutions of cells. Consistent with this fact, canonical and non-canonical NF-?B signaling is activated in TICs isolated from breast cancer cell lines. Experimental results indicate that NF-?B promotes the function of TICs by stimulating epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and by upregulating the expression of the inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1? and interleukin-6. The results suggest the use of NF-?B inhibitors for clinical therapy of certain breast cancers.
Project description:Despite the prime importance of telomeres in chromosome stability, significant mysteries surround the architecture of telomeric chromatin. Through micrococcal nuclease mapping, we show that fission yeast chromosome ends are assembled into distinct protected structures ('telosomes') encompassing the telomeric DNA repeats and over half a kilobase of subtelomeric DNA. Telosome formation depends on the conserved telomeric proteins Taz1 and Rap1, and surprisingly, RNA. Although yeast telomeres have long been thought to be free of histones, we show that this is not the case; telomere repeats contain histones. While telomeric histone H3 bears the heterochromatic lys9-methyl mark, we show that this mark is dispensable for telosome formation. Therefore, telomeric chromatin is organized at an architectural level, in which telomere-binding proteins and RNAs impose a unique nucleosome arrangement, and a second level, in which histone modifications are superimposed upon the higher order architecture.